You're not kidding about Leiber being uneven. I found him to be maddening at times. My favorite Fafhrd and Gray Mouser story is "Ill Met in Lankhmar".
Even when I wasn't happy with all the tales in them, I thought those late 60's and early 70's paperback editions from Ace were a handsome-looking bunch.
My guess is that Leiber was a writer who benefitted from having to make sales to a stern editor. Once he got to where he could be indulgent, he seemed to lose a sense of proportion. Philip Jose Farmer was like this, also.
Heh. And the women resorted to protective framework over their heads, so that they were in cages and the birds were free. That Leiber, what a droll guy.
And the famous courtesan Lessnya, having lost an eye in one of the bird attacks, turned the gold artificial eye she got into a fashion statement. (Throwaway details like that gave Lankhmar a distinctly lived-in feel--something I prize in a fantasy series.)
I believe I've mentioned "Bazaar of the Bizarre" as a favorite of mine; another is THE SWORDS OF LANKHMAR, with its transparent ghouls and literal underground rat society, and my two favorite female Leiber characters: the daintily sociopathic Hisvet and the archly snarky Frix.
(Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser have long been on my personal Cinematic Wish List.)
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Even when I wasn't happy with all the tales in them, I thought those late 60's and early 70's paperback editions from Ace were a handsome-looking bunch.
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(Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser have long been on my personal Cinematic Wish List.)
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